| Without the correct preparation the fingers are likely | | | | your fingers by way of exercise. Let your fingers do |
| become rigid and sore when playing the guitar. The | | | | the walking up and down the chair arm, put your hands |
| fingers have to be flexible and capable of bending into | | | | into tight fists and then release each finger stretching it |
| unusual shapes in order to play certain notes and | | | | as you go. Take a few minutes to stretch your arms |
| chords. The stiffer they become, we continue to force | | | | above your head and then allow them to drop by your |
| them to play, getting tenser as we go along which in | | | | side. With loose fingers shake your hands and feel the |
| turn affects our fingers. So is there anything we can | | | | tightness fade away. |
| do about this problem? | | | | Just before you start playing your guitar, give your |
| The answer to this question is yes. We need to | | | | hands a good shake to get rid of any tension, then |
| ensure our fingers are properly prepared before we | | | | warm up by doing some scales. Start slowly at first, |
| begin. An ideal way to do this is to perform finger | | | | then speed up as you continue playing. If your hands or |
| exercises which will add strength to our fingers even | | | | fingers are cold you should get them to the right |
| whilst we are not actually playing the guitar. Normally | | | | temperature before you begin. You can do this by |
| quite difficult chords will be so much easier to play | | | | soaking them in a dish of warm water. |
| simply by using a soft rubber ball to carry out | | | | If blisters are a common occurrence after you have |
| squeezing exercises to stop our fingers becoming stiff. | | | | been playing your guitar, you should let them heal |
| As well as strength, fingers need to be supple too and | | | | before plucking or strumming the strings again. There |
| exercises such as typing or playing games using the | | | | are plenty of other things you can be getting on with |
| keys of your computer keyboard will keep them | | | | while you are waiting for your blisters to disappear |
| moving. It is important to give the third finger more | | | | such as brushing up on the theory of music. This |
| exercise as traditionally it is the weakest of them all. | | | | means you will not waste your "out of action" time. Of |
| You will see proof of this fact when you place your | | | | course, you can avoid blisters by playing your guitar a |
| hand palm downwards on a level surface and try to lift | | | | little at a time to start with. Your fingers will harden |
| the third finger without moving any of the others. This | | | | eventually and you should have no problems in the |
| weakness can be overcome by practicing using your | | | | future. You can always tap your fingertips on a hard |
| third finger for tasks where you would normally use | | | | surface whenever you get the opportunity as this will |
| your index finger. | | | | also help them to become firm along with exercising |
| When you are watching TV make a point of wiggling | | | | your fingers at the same time. |